Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has been remanded into custody after pleading guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the party at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The 62-year-old, who is the estranged husband of former SNP leader and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, admitted the charges on Monday morning. He will be sentenced on June 23.

He was charged with embezzling the funds from the party between August 2010 and October 2022.

Murrell was the SNP’s chief executive between 2001 and 2023, the same year in which he was first arrested as part of Operation Branchform, a Police Scotland probe into the party’s finances. He was charged in April, 2024.

Sturgeon was also arrested and questioned by detectives, but was never charged with any offences.

The indictment against Murrell included allegations that in 2020 he used party funds to buy a £124,550 motorhome for his own personal use.

He and Sturgeon had previously been one of the most powerful couples in UK politics.

She served for more than eight years as first minister and SNP leader, while Murrell was the party’s chief executive.

In January last year, Sturgeon announced she and Murrell had “decided to end” their marriage after nearly 15 years.

Responding to Murrell’s guilty plea, Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston of Police Scotland said: “Peter Murrell has shown utter contempt for the high public trust placed in him as the chief executive of a political party and his position in the wider political establishment of Scotland for many years.

“He abused his privileged position with access to Scottish National Party funds to divert cash into his own accounts and bankroll the lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford.”

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